


These are the days

by Fanfic_CJ



Series: Ends and Beginnigs [2]
Category: Noir (Anime), 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-03 01:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16316399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanfic_CJ/pseuds/Fanfic_CJ
Summary: The BO cleanup has taken weeks already and everyone is dealing with the aftermath.Masumi helped bodygard Ran and just now they though it was no longer necessary.





	1. Don't do that to a friend

**Author's Note:**

> Detective Conan, Mouri Ran and Sera Masumi were all created by Aoyama Gōshō.  
> Yumura Kirika and Mireille Bouquet were created by Bee Train animation studio.
> 
> Not beta'd yet.

Sera Masumi bangs the door behind her, starts down the steps, and stops. Hastily she turns and locks the door. Key in hand, taking two steps at a time to get away, she nearly runs into a dark shadow suddenly appearing at the foot of the stairs.  Just as she takes up a defensive stance, the other shouts  “Never do that to a friend. Go right back and talk! ” Confused, Masumi drops her arms. In the dim light, the shadow turns out to be a girl in school uniform, probably slightly younger than herself, with dark eyes and short dark hair. She has seen her before, but where?

  
 “You. Go. Back. And. Talk.” The voice has a quality that makes Masumi turn, and go up three steps before her brains catch up with her. When she starts to turn back, the girl says “No, the room is not bugged. I’m just good at reading lips.” The smile she sees is crooked and Masumi shivers. “Now get a grip on your teenage hormones and be honest. Before it’s too late to fix this.”  Masumi walks up the steps, listening behind her. When she reaches the door, out of the corner of her eyes, she sees the empty doorway below. What the hell?

  
It only takes two seconds to go in and lock the door behind her. She keeps the light out, the large windows show the dim silhouette of the roof of the house on the other side of the street. Nothing moves out there. Keeping to the shadows, she walks on. A muffled sob from behind the door she is heading for.  A sliver of light below the door. She listens for am moment. No movement, but another muffled sob. She takes a deep breath, opens the door and slides in.  
Ran is huddled in the corner between door and wardrobe, her long hair hiding her face. No one else there. Masumi flips the light switch and drops down next to Ran. She barely manages to turn her head so the elbow thrust only glances off her chin. She catches Ran’s arm. “I’s just me”.  

  
“Sorry.” Ran sinks down again. In the half-light from the street, her face is unreadable.  “Why did you come back?”

  
Masumi sits back, her shoulder not quite touching Ran’s. “There was a girl at the foot of the stairs. She told me I shouldn’t be an ass and go back to talk to you.” Ran’s chuckle breaks off when she realizes what this means. “She said there was no bug, she was just good with lip-reading.” Masumi continues.

  
 “You believe her?” Ran asks.

  
 “We checked when we arrived here.”

  
“Did.” Ran says in a tired voice. “Did she say more?”

  
“Something about teenage hormones and getting a grip on myself.”  Ran turns her head. Her long hair brushes Masumi’s left arm. “Oh?”

  
Masumi looks down. “It didn’t feel like she was a danger to you. Just like she was really pissed with me. … But…”

  
“… she must have been watching us. And she’s not someone you know.” Ran  continues turning her head back. She takes a deep breath.

  
Keeping in the cover of the bed, Masumi goes for the switch that turns down the steel roller shutter on the windows. The room goes dark.

  
“Masumi, I’m so tired of this.” Ran’s voice is so low, Masumi can’t hear any emotions in it. “Yeah, me too.”  
  
“Jodie-Sensei said they caught the last stragglers.” Ran says with a sight.

  
 Masumi nods,  nervously massaging her own hands. “If she could see us well enough to lip-read what we were saying, we should already be dead, if that is, what she wanted.”

  
 “Unless she is playing cat and mouse.” 

 


	2. Distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ran and Masumi talk it out, well, some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not betaed. If anyone likes to, please let me know.   
> Never had a reason to write direct speech in English before, so the punctuation might be a bit off.  
> Constructive criticism is welcome.

Ran flips out her mobile. “Jodie-Sensei? We just got the message that an unknown party has been watching us closely enough to lip-read our conversation. “ … “At the agency, yes.” … “I’m not sure?” Ran passes the mobile to Masumi and watches her talking in the dim light of the display.

  
“Hi Jodi-Sensei” … “The messenger looked like a schoolgirl with a hell of a presence, dark eyes, dark hair, school uniform.” … “She told me off. For behavior she only could have seen through the window.” … “Third floor, yes.” … “Haven’t seen anything move out there.” … “Thanks.” … “What?” Masumi turns away. “Yes”, she said. … “Thanks all the same.” She closes the mobile.

  
“They are going to check it out.” Masumi tells the darkness, then fumbles for the lamp by the futon. As she turns round, Ran already stands directly behind her. She takes in Ran’s red eyes, tear-streaked face and looks down. Masumi grips the bridge of her nose. “Ran-san …” she begins and feels Ran stiffen at the honorific.

  
“You’ve been playing my girlfriend for the last 4 weeks, Masumi” Ran interjects angrily, “and I thought we were friends.” She grips Masumi’s shoulders as Masumi nods but doesn’t look up. “What are you hiding from me?” Ran’s voice is low, the searing anger in it nearly manages to hide the hurt. Masumi looks up, meeting her eyes. Still not speaking. After some time, Ran grins suddenly “You are not afraid of me.”, she notes.

  
Masumi grins back for a second. “You only hit people who attacked you first” she says, “ or attacked someone you love.”

  
Ran lets her hands fall and looks away. “That detective otaku was never sure.”, she says bitterly.

  
“For someone with his level of intelligence, he can be incredibly dumb about some things.” Masumi agrees, barely keeping anger out of her voice. She raises her hand as if to touch Ran’s shoulder but drops it again.

  
Ran looks at her, attentive and confused, as if she noticed. “It’s not that you can duck anything I might throw at you?” she asks, trying for a lighter tone.

  
“I’d duck anything.” Masumi responds instantly, dropping her eyes “ On bad days, I think it’s a solution. If I let you hit me, we’d be even somehow. “ Her voice is toneless. “ But I know it would hurt you even more, if you damaged me out of anger.”

  
Ran barely catches the words, she winces and feels her anger drain away. Her hand softly raises Masumi’s chin until she can see her eyes again. “What makes you think you have done something that deserves getting ‘damaged’?” she asks.

  
Masumi shifts her weight uncomfortably. “I haven’t been feeling like a good friend for two or three weeks now.”, she started. She can see Ran trying to think back and suddenly focus back on the present.

  
“That day someone caught that assassin and wrapped them up like a nice parcel? Looking back, you were certainly guarded around me afterwards. ” Ran says ( ~~remembering Masumi's hands massaging her hurt leg, remembering the sounds she made to draw out any assassin who might have bugged the room at the top of Teitan High they were using to keep away from the others during lunch break.~~ ), letting her hand drop.

  
“We never found out who did that, did we?” Masumi gratefully moves to a different but relevant topic. “But the girl just yet seems much too young…” her voice trails off.

  
“Also too young to manage to lip-read our … ‘conversation’ half an hour ago, did she?” Ran asks as if she was reading Masumi’s mind. “Another one who shrank and changed sides?” Ran sits down on the futon, legs crossed, thinking hard. “Ai disappeared, and if she didn’t, her choices would have been limited.“

  
“Spend the rest of her life in jail or do bio-weapons research for the government. Whichever government.” Masumi agrees, a mixture of anger and frustration in her voice. She starts pacing. “As if choices hadn’t already been limited. Can you imagine having Gin around your whole life?” They both shudder.

  
Ran remembers the face of the young women who had been the bait for drawing out most of the remaining BO operatives 4 weeks ago. The one that looked familiar and no one talked about. And hopes.

  
Masumi sits down next to Ran, careful not to be too close. “I wouldn’t want to get someone into jail who helped us.”, she says softly.

  
“After the 20th attempt on one’s life, values around that seem to become hazy.”, Ran states in a tone of agreement. They sit in silence until Ran’s mobile rings.  
“Moshi, moshi?” Ran listens intently to the voice. “Hai, … Hai? “ she shoots Masumi a startled look. “Arigatou Gozaimasu“ she says and ends the conversation. She shakes her head. “Someone left _I’ll get you if you do it_ on the ideal spot to snipe my room. And a really small bomb right next to it.” she says in an exasperated tone.

  
“Looks like someone is going out of their way to protect you.” Masumi mused. “Did they leave it there?”   
Ran nods. Stares at Masumi, shakes her head again. “Ok, now that we seem to be as safe as we might be, let’s get back to what the hell is going on in your head.” Her voice is deceptively calm. 


	3. Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some mind-blowing things are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly canon-divergent, I suspect. The topic never came up, but given the prevalence of nosebleeds in canon, very likely non-canon.

Masumi sighs. “Right now, I wanted to get away and find my balance, so I could feel like a friend again.” She stares at her fingers in her lap. “ Didn’t sound like it, did it?”

  
Ran gives a short laugh. “It rather felt like _At last I can get away_. Like I was horrible or something.”

  
Masumi winces.  She formally bows in Ran’s direction. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I wanted to say.”

  
Ran tugs her hair impatiently. “So I gathered.” she says dryly. “What did you what to say? .. or rather, what are you avoiding?”

  
“It has not been easy for me to pretend to be your lover...” Masumi says to her hands, shoulders slumped. Ran turns and watches her, slightly flushed. “… and keep my mind on the job”,  Masumi continues. Ran starts to breath like before a match, even counts of in, hold, out, hold. “I had to struggle to not think about certain things from the start. When it seemed like you started to respond to me… I could just make sure to sit tight and not do the wrong thing.” She fidgets.

  
Ran shakes her head impatiently, the even breathing forgotten. “Ok, so there was something you didn’t do and didn’t even allow yourself to think, and that’s enough to earn yourself a punch in the face? Start making sense.” Her exasperated voice becomes softer at the end.  “Please.”

  
“We would’ve been sitting ducks. And past danger is … “ Masumi heaves a breath that seems to weight tons, “… arousing by itself. Exploitable. Wrong.” The staccato stops, Masumi looks at the wall for a change, her hands clasped together so hard it hurts.  Ran put her hand on Masumi’s and Masumi starts and looks at Ran.

“Since when did you have a crush on me?” Ran asks evenly.  Masumi starts even more, shrugs. When Ran doesn’t look away, she finally opens her mouth. “Since you fought me to protect Sonoko-chan on the bus.“

  
_I forgive you, because you are my type_ she had said. Ran remembers the moment quite well, and truth to tell, rather fondly. She smiles wrily “And for the last 4 weeks, we’ve been cuddling like no tomorrow. Great. Do detectives have any sense of self-preservation?” she asks rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “Did you at least do it yourself at night thinking of me?”

Masumi turns bright red. “No! What kind of asshole do you think I am?” she shouts, practically jumping half a meter backwards.

  
“Baka!” Ran replies, throwing her hands up in the air. “Honorable idiot. No wonder you’re not making sense.” She grabs something out of her bedside table and tosses it to Masumi. “Will you go, take a shower and do yourself, and then let’s talk afterwards? Please.“

Masumi automatically catches the bag. It contains something long and something egg-shaped. She takes a moment to connect the dots in her mind then blushes an even brighter red. Her flustered look  makes Ran look to the side and bite her lip to keep from laughing. “I’m going to make some tea, so you can take your time.” Ran walks out of the room. Masumi stares after her. Honorable idiot, hmm? That doesn’t sound angry or rather, not angry about wanting something that isn’t in the books. Masumi slowly gets up and walks to the bathroom.  Just before she closes the door she hears a very soft voice from behind “It’s actually ok if you want to think of me”.

  
Ran turns on the TV to mask the sounds from the shower. A rerun of a Yoko Okino show just started, hopefully her father is still busy with Pacchinco or watches it somewhere else.  The water is boiling. Ran finds a soothing herbal tea and hums softly to herself while it steeps. It feels … interesting … to imagine Masumi in the shower, thinking of her, she muses. Confusing, too. She looks up some things on the internet. Several sources talk about physical arousal as a reaction to life-threatening danger once its past. Hmm. Honorable indeed. Ran leans back on the couch and probes her confusion from several sides. It remains a tangle or even gets tangled more by probing. Just one thing remains as clear as it was before.

  
Movement near her wakes her up and she smiles at Masumi, who is tucking a blanket around Ran. “Gotcha.” Ran says and pulls Masumi down on the couch next to her. “Feeling better?” she asks.

  
Masumi grabs her tea mug and drinks. “Some. Though I might talk more sense now, I’m more confused than before.” She looks at Ran, who nods. “Let’s be confused together, then. Can we clear up what had you thinking you were doing something … really damnable just by being interested in me as more than a friend?”

  
“I’m still totally poleaxed that you don’t take it as a huge breach of trust.” Masumi replies.

Ran blinks. “Where would that breach be? It’s not like you did anything to take advantage of me.”

  
“No? Would have gone along with our pretense-relationship if you had known about my feelings?” She sips her tea while waiting for Ran’s reply.

  
“I would have felt like taking advantage of you,…  would have feared to hurt you, unintentionally. So I’d have been very self-conscious about cuddling with you.” Ran tells her after a moment. Then she blushes and looks chagrined  “ And I’d never have dared to make those sounds. I’m sorry. “

  
“Don’t be, it drew out the assassin just like you though it would. And it’s not like I could have had any doubt as to your intention at that moment. Though it was … more difficult … “Masumi blushes up to her ears “… to keep my focus afterwards.”

Ran hugs her for a moment. “I’m really sorry, that must have been hard on you.” Masumi stares at her and then starts to giggle. Ran looks confused for a moment then hides her face behind her hands. “Argh, wrong choice of words. “

Masumi giggles even more. After a moment, she gets a grip on herself. Taking deep breath she asks “You were always about Shinichi here,  there, and well, mostly not there. You came across as totally straight. Why are you so relaxed about all this?”

  
“Besides you not taking care of yourself and snapping at me as a result, there is no reason not to be relaxed about it. “ Ran looks at her and nods to emphasize each of her points. “You have feelings you kept to yourself because you thought I wouldn’t enjoy them. No problem there. You probably had some fantasies about  how those feelings might be expressed, still no problem there, it’s all yours until you act on them.” Masumi  opens her mouth to protest, but Ran continues “You decided, you could manage to do a pretend-relationship with me to be my bodyguard. That’s a mayor self-sacrifice if I ever saw one. And when things kept dragging on and I started to really like being close to you, you kept me at the same distance than before. Which all adds up to one thing: You are an incredible honorable and trustworthy person. And.. “ Ran winks “ really cute when you blush.”

  
Masumi feels herself blushing even more and hides her face. The silence lengthens. Ran doesn’t say anything about  _don’t like you that way_ as Masumi expected ~~as the best case possible~~. At last, Masumi looks up. Ran is biting her lips looking straight ahead. “Hm?” Masumi enquires.    
“I don’t know” Ran begins “how I feel about you. Never really thought about it before.” She turns to look at Masumi. “ I know I want you in my life.  Can we take time to find out, if this is friendship … or something else?”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the scene is set, where do we go from here?  
> I have some, well, erotic ideas and they might include Sabrina and Jill from Charlie's Angels. Would you read that?


	4. Don't need a reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people conspire to help Shiho. As usual, she's not making it easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not betaed.

Akai appears in the door without knocking. "Oi, Subaru", Shinichi protests, trying to pull up Shiho's sheet to cover her.  
"I have to go check something out, be extra careful in case it's a distraction." The agent vanishes.  
Shinichi sights and unwraps the now-loose bandage from Shiho's chest and shoulders. "Sorry".  
Shiho looks away from him. She still doesn't trust Subaru and thinking about that is a great distraction for the pain and indignity of getting her bandages changed by Shinichi. "If your girlfriend wasn't so goody-to-shoes to save a total stranger who is shot at, your life would be so much easier." she tells Shinichi in her harshest voice. Shinichi secures the bandages ends before replying "You never need a reason to save a life. Ran saved a much more unsavoury looking serial killer once." He gets up from the bed and reaches for Shiho's nightshirt. Tossing the shirt over to Shiho, he starts to leave. " And she is not me girlfriend." The door closes behind him.  
Shiho starts the painful process of putting on her shirt, first the left arm, than, inch by inch, the wirst cast and the right arm. With a deep breath, she tries to shut up the memories of the shot making her crumble in the middle of a clearing, Ran's tackle that takes them over the edge of the scenic lakeside cliff, holding her while there are falling, the painful jarring when Ran kicked at tree branches to break their fall. She shakes her head only to remember flying bullets and Ran shielding Ai with her body. "At least this time you didn't faint in the most dangerous position" she grumbles. "How did you ever survive that time?!" Then she remembers Vermouths voice "Move it, Angel". Right. For some reason, Vermouth, Vermouth! of all people, hadn't wanted Ran to be hurt.  
Shiho takes a couple of painkillers from her bedside table and takes them. Shinichi never leaves more than one dose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't written the prequel yet, but there's this action packed idea of Shiho acting as bait to draw out all remaining BO personell to catch her, Ran managing to be at the right place at the right time, or the wrong one, depending on viewpoint, and Jodie having to decide if she wants to take out Vermouth while Vermouth is shooting at people taking pot shots at Ran and Shiho.
> 
> \----  
> If you find typos or grammar bullshit, let me know.


End file.
